• Mubelotix@jlai.lu
      202·
      10 months ago

      I’m french and I have always been told that our Gaullish ancestors had festivities going on at that date already and the roman empire made sure to destroy our culture and traditions by replacing our celebrations. They also built churches on the exact same spots as our previous cult places. Like, they even built a new city (Tours) from scratch to make Amboise become irrelevant. Christmas was part of the violence inflicted to our ancestors

      • Samsy@lemmy.ml
        51·
        10 months ago

        That’s the only correct answer. Just use the existing celebration dates, and remove the old religion.

        Why on earth doesn’t modern Christians question the Eastern celebration, which follows the moon-calendar?

    • Pipoca@lemmy.world
      41·
      10 months ago

      We don’t actually really know.

      One idea is that Jesus’s conception was said to have been in March for assorted reasons, and December is 9 months after March.

      Another is that it appropriated Roman solstice celebrations.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
        71·
        10 months ago

        One of the main reasons to believe that the birth date of Jesus is not reliable is because we have historical records of when there were censuses, and they tended to not to be in the winter months for fairly obvious practical reasons. There is no record of one occurring in December or anywhere near that time around the supposed date of his birth, so how could Jesus have been born on the way to a census if there wasn’t one in December?

        The only option is that the date of the birth is out by about 10 years (there was a census in December 10 years earlier) or the month of his birth is out by about 6 months. Which of those two options we don’t know but we definitely know he wasn’t and couldn’t be born at the date that the bible says. The reason people go for the summer birth hypothesis is it’s easier to understand how the date could have been moved six months a lot less easy to understand how people could have thought he was 10 years younger than he actually was.

        That’s a pretty good reason.

        • Pipoca@lemmy.world
          11·
          10 months ago

          The story of the census appears in the gospel of Luke, which was written around 100 CE and edited for a while afterwards.

          It places Jesus’ birth during the census of Quirinius, which happened in 6 CE.

          That’s flatly contradicted by the earlier gospel of Matthew, which has Jesus being born during the time of Herod the great who died in 1CE.

          There’s no historical evidence that Roman censuses required people to go to the town they were born in; it’d be such a big disruption that it seems fairly implausible. It’s more likely that the story about the census was made up by early Christians who were trying to edit details of the story to make Jesus fulfill more prophecies.

  • Mubelotix@jlai.lu
    241·
    10 months ago

    Does anyone actually celebrate Valentines day without a lover? Seems like the logic doesn’t work

        • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
          7·
          10 months ago

          I am (s)lightly joking. I’m referring to this passage which does seem to describe Christmas trees. Although if you’re actually doing a deep theological study you can make a good argument for how it’s referring to a specific form of idolatry — but it is amusingly close!

          Jeremiah 10 NIV

          1 Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. 2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

  • SonnyVabitch@lemmy.world
    18·
    10 months ago

    His question has a logic in his mind. Religious holiday, non-religious folk, what gives?

    Of course the logic breaks down at the tiniest amount of scrutiny, but that would be beyond the capacity of Kevin’s little head.

    • CurlyMoustache@lemmy.world
      3·
      10 months ago

      I get paid time off from work during christmas (or jul, as we call it here). I will celebrate anything that gives me paid time off

    • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      110·
      10 months ago

      I agree. IMO celebrating the shell of a religious holiday without actually being religious is pathetic. I’m an atheist - in this moment I am euphoric, or maybe I’m sad because abandoning religion has cut me off from the culture of my ancestors. But at least I’m not pretending that I have something which I actually don’t.

      That reminds me… In the Soviet Union, loyal communists didn’t celebrate religious holidays but Santa Claus, gift giving, and decorating Christmas trees (they weren’t called that) were all moved over to New Year’s instead. Also Santa Claus was assisted by his good-looking granddaughter.

      • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
        13·
        10 months ago

        Atheists celebrate holidays because the actual thing real people celebrate is never, and really was never, about religion.

        Thats why christians were able to subsume pagan traditions, because the traditions of gathering together, eating good food, and enjoying each others company was the real reason for the season.

        If the worship mattered more than the communal celebration for the sake of community, christians would never have allowed pagan traditions into the holiday.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    12·
    10 months ago

    Because Christmas is as much about Christianity as my rear end. It’s a nice festivity that comes from old customs, and nobody has a problem with keeping the nicer parts of culture and customs while filtering out the crappy parts.

  • richieadler@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
    12·
    10 months ago

    Between the stroke-induced brain damage and the religion-induced brain damage, Sorbo is pretty much at the point where we should wrap him, put in a bow and throw him in the nearest dumpster.